The Laughing DM » development

It’s A Bad Monday When …

DungeonMaster — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:45:13 +0000

It’s a bad Monday morning when three key software development / IT web sites are off line. stackoverflow.com, superuser.com, and serverfault.com are all off line this morning.

StackOverflow Offline

ServerFault Offline

SuperUser Offline

SQL Server 2008 Express Installation

DungeonMaster — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:17:33 +0000

Why is it that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express installation so freakishly difficult? The process should be click “Start Installation” and be done with it if the default options are okay. But, for some reason that I cannot fathom, the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express installation doesn’t just work. I’ve tried it, now, more times than I can count; each time with different, but still failing, results.

I’ve yet to find any good guides on how to install this piece of software. Trial and error should not be an installation methodology. If I can figure out the magic formula, I will post it. But breathing should not be suspended while waiting (aka “don’t hold your breath.”).

Old Programming Shirts

DungeonMaster — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:00:52 +0000

My boss sent me a picture of an old SQL Server shirt that he had hanging in his closet. And by old I mean “SQL Server 7.0″. That inspired me to go looking through my closet to see what I could find.

Borland Delphi 6 Shirt

The Borland Delphi 6 shirt is from a half-day presentation that Borland gave locally sometime in late 1999 or early 2000.

Yes, I can still wear the shirt.

VS2008 SP1 – Update Dialog

DungeonMaster — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:11:57 +0000

I’m little late to installing the Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1. Part of the problem is that the Microsoft Update process never told me that there was an update available.

But while the update was running I noticed that the progress dialog left a little bit to be desired.

Upgrade Progress

So what’s wrong with the dialog? The progress dialog was kind enough to tell me how much time was remaining with the download progress. It wasn’t kind enough to tell me how much time was estimated to remain on the actual installation. That’s a useful piece of information, particularly when you are in the middle of the workday.

StackOverflow Spam Problem

DungeonMaster — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:00:32 +0000

Last night one of the more interesting software development sites, stackoverflow.com, had a problem with a user spamming hundreds of bogus questions into the site.

Read about their analysis and response here.

StackOverflow has an interesting question and answer voting process for identifying “important” issues.